Getting Things Ready - September 2013

The rest of the fall was spent getting things ready for a garden. We cleaned out an old mini-shed we used to use to house our trash cans. The two old empty cans that were inside had a couple of small holes at the bottom, but we cleaned those out too...storage for fall leaves which we'll layer into our compost starting in the spring.

Because we didn't have fall leaves saved for composting this year, we made do with shredded paper, torn newspaper, and unused paper pet bedding for our "brown layers". You can see the bits of shredded paper in the compost.

Composting is strangely fulfilling. It's gross because it's dirt and decomposing plant matter...and sometimes there are flies. But it's cool too. There's something satisfying about using stuff you'd normally throw away to make something new. Every week, when I'd turn the compost with a pitchfork, I could see the kitchen scraps and pruned branches and leaves and grass clippings and shredded paper...stuff I'd put into yard waste bags, or out for recycling, or into the garbage disposal...become nutritious soil for our garden. It feels good to help the environment a bit, while creating something so useful.